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New Walnut Creek BART Station Garage Creates Parking Nightmare

WALNUT CREEK (KPIX 5) -- A brand new parking garage has opened up at the Walnut Creek BART station, but riders say the parking nightmare is worse than it was before.

The biggest gripe is about the cost of the new parking lot. In the brand new garage, daily users have to pay $18 compared to $3 in the BART-operated lot.

BART rider Carmen Goodin feels it's a scam.

"If you don't get parking, instead of $3 a day, it's $18 a day. And I just can't afford that," said Goodin.

BART spokesperson Chris Filippi says there's a reason for the $15 difference between the two garages.

"It's the revenue stream the developer needs to finance the construction of the new garage," explained Filippi.

The brand new 900-plus vehicle capacity parking garage, run by a private developer, just opened up at the end of March. Out of those 900 spots, only 118 of them are for daily users. That means in all, daily users lost nearly 700 parking spots in the transition.

BART says Walnut Creek has the second longest waiting list for monthly permits.

"I think it's more convenient parking. because now you can have your own parking here if you pay your monthly fee," said Maria, a monthly permit holder.

This is just the first step in renovating the entire Walnut Creek BART station into a transit village, filled with shops and housing.

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